Posted on 07/10/2004 8:30:39 AM PDT by itsnevertoolate
I really wanted to attend the York rally for President Bush. Over lunch on Tuesday, I made a mad dash from Reading to the Lancaster County Republican Headquarters to get tickets. Fortunately the long lines from early in the morning had cleared out and I walked right up to the registration desk. Within 5 minutes, I was headed back to Reading, tickets in hand.
Neither Beartooth nor I could leave work on Friday until the middle of the afternoon. With him working in Mechanicsburg and me in Reading, we made plans to meet at the Galleria Mall in York. I had to stop at home to let our dog out, since we knew we wouldn’t be home until fairly late. When I was just about home, Beartooth called and said he saw on the WGAL-TV website that Rt. 30 was going to be closed at 4 p.m. We changed our plans since the Galleria is right off of Rt. 30 and decided to meet at the Delco Plaza off of Carlisle Ave, which is the main route to the York Fairgrounds.
It was about 2:20 and I hadn’t really given a thought to the fact that I would be traveling down Rt. 222 around the time the President's bus would be on the road to a 3:00 stop in Lancaster. I got home, let the dog out to do her business, and quickly got back on the road, hoping I could make it through before traffic got tied up by the Bush motorcade. I didn’t have a lot of time to spare. It was heartening to see all the people lined up on each overpass and pulled off along 222. I knew the President’s motorcade couldn’t be too far behind me.
I didn’t notice that my cell phone was not fully initialized. I had been expecting a call from Beartooth and got worried when it was 3:00 and I still hadn’t heard from him. I checked the cell phone, turned it completely on, and called him. Of course, he had been trying to call me for the past 20 minutes. He was headed down Rt. 74 in York County, while I was finally on Rt. 30. We both got to Rt. 30 and Carlisle Ave. intersection around 3:30. Because of the traffic backup, it took us until 4:00 to travel the one block to Delco Plaza. A bunch of Kerry supporters had set up shop there, but we breezed right past them. Beartooth moved over to my car from his truck and we were back on the road in no time, but going nowhere. We had one mile to go and we were starting to wonder if we would make it by 5:30 when the gates were to close. We inched along, passing several small groups of Kerry supporters.
We finally made it into the parking area around 4:45. We had to show our tickets to get into the fairgrounds. All of the lines for security had cleared and we went right through, if you can call it "right through" to have to stop and show your tickets, stop and show your photo id and tickets, and then go through metal detectors. They checked our bags and sent us through the detectors. We both had to be wanded because our buttons set off the alarm. We had our “I Support Our Troops and President Bush” buttons that we got from the DC Freeper chapter at an April, 2003 rally. Beartooth’s camera got extra attention because of the long lens he had on it.
The hall was packed, and, of course, we were well in the back of the standing crowd. There were two large monitors at either end of the hall, but I wanted to actually get to see the President. We moved over by the press area and were able to see the podium by peeking in between heads.
The Oak Ridge Boys were singing when walked into the hall. They were soon followed by speeches from Representative Todd Platts and Senator Rick Santorum, who was first introduced as our senior Senator (don’t we wish!), but quickly corrected to junior Senator. There was a lull as we waited for President Bush to arrive.
We saw some advance people come in, but I couldn’t make out who they were. What a roar when the President arrived! Joe Paterno gave him a ROUSING introduction. In his speech, the President thanked Paterno, saying “Everybody who has ever run for President wants Joe Paterno to introduce him. But in the year 2004, there's only one. And I'm honored it's me.”
President Bush went on to introduce Jenna, saying that Laura could not be there and that he was proud that Jenna made it through her 4 years of college. He thanked a lot of the Republican poobahs and then got to the meat of his address.
The President spoke about meeting the challenges of his presidency and the progress that has been made with the economy and in protecting our country. After repeatedly hitting on Kerry’s record of flip flops, he got the biggest laughs with the line “If you disagree with the Senator from Massachusetts on most any issue, you may just have caught him on the wrong day. “ In contrast, President Bush highlighted his clear and certain vision for America.
Another line that got a lot of laughs had to do with Kerry’s liberalism, “Senator Kerry is rated as the most liberal member of the Senate, and he chose a fellow lawyer who is the fourth most liberal member of the Senate. Back in Massachusetts, that's what they call balancing the ticket.”
The President spoke earnestly and with great emotion about September 11. He said, “We must never forget the lessons of September the 11th. It's a lesson -- there are many lessons, but I want to share one with you that we -- I will never forget, and I hope this country never does: America must confront threats before they fully materialize. When we see a threat, we just can't hope for the best anymore. That's the lesson of September the 11th.” He stated that his most solemn duty is the security of our country.
President Bush highlighted values we hold high as Americans – courage and compassion, reverence and integrity – and the culture of individual responsibility in America . He closed with what I think will become the slogan of his campaign – “We will make America safer, stronger, and better.”
You can read the transcript of his speech at Remarks by the President at York, Pennsylvania Rally
We had a great time at the rally. President Bush is very personable and charismatic in person. His message is uplifting and positive. We all left the rally feeling hopeful and energized to help get him re-elected.
Walking back to the car, we saw Marine One and 6 other helicopters take off and head back to Washington. As we waited to leave the parking area, we could hear some sad sack Kerry supporters outside the fence surrounding the fairgrounds, shouting some ugly anti-Bush slogans. They all seem so unhappy, mean, and just look so ugly when they are shouting. I guess they took lessons from Howard Dean.
We passed a few more Kerry supporters on the way back to Beartooth’s truck, but we now had our sign from the rally in the car window. I like to smile at them, because it frustrates them to no end when they can’t get a rise out of you. On the way back to Lancaster, we passed many cars with “W” signs. We all beeped and waved at each other.
In my boat on Long Island Sound, both times I mooned the bum!!
Thank you for the pictures and words. Great job.
Hmmm, for your viewing pleasure.
My wife and I were on our wekly bike ride in PA Dutch country yesterday
Saw the crowds lining the street in Intercourse
Asked what was the occassion
Didn't realize Bush was coming through
Got to see him waving from the front of the campaign bus
Thank you very much for your report. I'm glad you got to see what many would never see in a lifetime: a sitting President, in person, that you support!
Are you planning to go to the Second Inaugural Festivities, when the President is reelected? Once I have the extreme pleasure of hearing the Fraudcast LameScream Media say that W has won in a landslide, I will party like it's December 2000, have the first alcoholic beverage of my 35 year life, and book my tickets to Washington D.C. for a late January (and probably once in a lifetime) visit.
Please PING me if you hear about any such details for a Freeper Inaugural Ball in the future. First things first, though...
Want to ensure Ralph Nader gets on the ballot in your state? Go to:
http://www.votenader.org/
Check out the upper left hand corner of the page.
Help them with their petition drive in your state if applicable. At the very least sign their petition. Really want to have some fun, circulate a petition around among friends and family.
Let’s support democracy. Get Ralph on the ballot in as many states as possible.
Great report and pictures.
BTTT
Fantastic pictures and wonderful report!
I was stuck at work in "the Burg", and feel so sad to miss such a wonderful opportunity, especially since he drove right through my home town.
Well, attending a "Party for Bush" next week will take a little of the sting away. It's good to live in Bush country!
Thanks, everyone for your comments.
Now, we all have to get busy and do what we can to re-elect President Bush! Too much depends on this election for us to sit on the sidelines.
bump
The live thread was awesome
I think this is a preview of Bush playing hardball with these girlymen.
Thanks for the report!
I saw most of his speech on C-SPAN. Bush did a great job. Let's hope he does as well this Fall.
Bump for a good report. How early does one have to show up for a "good" seat, I wonder. (We're going to a Bush rally on Tuesday in Upper Michigan).
I watched it on Cspan and loved it. Your pictures are
fabulous. Thank you for sharing them and the inside story.
Our local paper said that a group who had waited for six hours to see the President was 20 feet in front of the podium. That means they got there around noon. For York, which had a limited number of seats, that probably was a good time to get there to be able to get a seat. Unfortunately, we couldn't leave work that early.
Great report, thanks.
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